Anorexia Nervosa And Teenage Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are complex illnesses which have been increasing in the past couple of decades. In fact, since the 1980s eating disorder have been recognized as a mental illness by the American Psychiatric Association (Parks, 2012). Normally those with eating disorders are preoccupied with thoughts controlling, food, eating, or weight. However, they are not a diet plan or an experiment to lose weight, but are serious complex disorders which can take years to recover from. Two of the most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, restricting food intake in which food is severely limited, and bulimia nervosa, overeating followed by vomiting, extreme exercise or fasting. Though to fully understand these two eating disorders it is important to know what they are, what damage they cause, and how to treat them. Anorexia nervosa, or simply put …show more content…
As Susan Schulherr explains in Parks book, Teenage Eating Disorders, “all foods contains nutritions fluids that cannot be compensated for by drinking water alone. Severely limiting the intake of nutrients and fluids over time causes your body to become dehydrated. Severely restricting carbohydrates and fats can result in dehydration” (2012, p. 52). This kind of dehydration disrupts and reduces the levels of electrolytes in the body which causes sever problems for the body. Electrolytes purpose is to conduct electricity, meaning they trigger impulses that enable cells to communicate with one another (Parks, 2012). This simulates the heart to beat, and regulates the function of all body organs, such as muscles and nerves (Parks, 2012). However, these electrolytes also assist the body in maintaing normal fluid levels. Thus, restricting electrolytes through nutritions inevitably causes sever